By Anne Gilbert    Beginning in the 19th century women not only kept house they began inventing things to make their lives easier. They created working models of their inventions in order to get a patent that would protect their ownership rights. These models are avidly collected and worth big bucks.    The making of patent models began when Congress passed the […]

By Beatrice Levin    From our earliest history, weaving and quilting bedcovers has been a medium for creative artistry. Since quilting became elevated from a home craft to a respected creative art, it also has become appreciated as a textile antique for its symbolism.    European immigrants brought not only quilts to the colonies, but also quiltmaking skills that developed and flourished. […]

By Robert Reed    If Evel Knievel could be considered a legend of the 1970s, then the toys created in his name clearly were legendary.    Knievel became America’s number one daredevil during that decade and at the same time evoked more than $300 million worth of toys and related merchandise. Some experts go as far as to say that the motorcycle […]

By Linda Lebsack     Book collecting can be as fun and flexible as the collector wants. Polar bears, Stickley furniture, ranching, South America, 19th century cookbooks, etc. For many standard or even wacky categories there are reference books useful to provide information about your subject. Fans of western outlaws refer to Ramon Adams’ Six-Guns and Saddle Leather describing almost 2500 books […]